Gram Chikitsalay Season 2 returns with a confirmed connection to Panchayat universe and a more heartwarming narrative, observes Sreeju Sudhakaran.
Key Points
- Gram Chikitsalay Season 2 embraces its connection to the Panchayat universe, even featuring cameos that confirm the shared setting.
- The new season benefits from better-developed lead characters, particularly Dr Prabhat Sinha and ward boy Gobind.
- Akash Makhija’s performance as Gobind, navigating the corrupt system to secure his ‘permanent’ position, is a highlight with a strong storyline.
When you cannot escape it, embrace it.
That feels like the advice taken to heart by the makers of Gram Chikitsalay in its second season.
The first season was criticised for suffering from a heavy Panchayat hangover. That felt even more evident since both shows came from the same team, TVF.
The second time around, Gram Chikitsalay doesn’t exactly try to escape the Panchayat comparisons. In fact, it doubles down on them and, thanks to two affordable cameos, establishes that both shows are set in the same universe. Which might not help the new season much, but what does help is that Gram Chikitsalay is now served by better fleshed-out main characters, comparatively improved writing and more successful attempts at being heartwarming.
That said, since it is pitting itself against one of TVF’s flagship shows, Gram Chikitsalay still has miles to cover before it catches up with the quality of Panchayat. Well, at least the first two seasons of that show.
What’s The Plot of Gram Chikitsalay S2?
So what is Dr Prabhat Sinha (Amol Parashar) up to now?
Well, good news for him, the residents of Bhatkandi are giving his primary healthcare facility a fair chance, though some still flock to their old healer, the fraudulent Dr Chetak (Vinay Pathak), who continues to prescribe medicines based on whatever the internet, now AI-boosted, tells him.
The bad news is that his PHC (Primary Health Centre) doesn’t have enough medicines to cater to the patients.
His new bestie and fellow medical officer, Dr Gargi (Akansha Ranjan Kapoor), points out that his demands would be heard by higher authorities if his office wins the Adarsh PHC title.
Prabhat is now determined to win this honour, and he coaxes his subordinates, Gobind (Akash Makhija) and Phutani (Anandeshwar Dwivedi), to share his enthusiasm.
The only issue is that Prabhat is still coming to terms with the fact that honest determination alone is not enough to appease a compromised system.
An Heartwarming Optimism
The good news first.
The second season gives more importance to developing the lead characters than the first season, albeit at the cost of a couple of other interesting characters getting comparatively little progression.
Prabhat’s steadfast earnestness feels less naïve this time and more admirable, even if you still want to shake him up and ask him to smell the coffee.
At least he now limits himself to shaking his head when he hears something that goes against his principles rather than stopping others from pursuing it. Even if that means sparring with Dr Gargi, who knows how to navigate the system better than him and is occasionally irritated by his holier-than-thou attitude.
Yet, the writers (Arunabh Kumar, Deepak Kumar Mishra, Shreya Srivastava and Vaibhav Suman) seem to recognise the value of honest officials in a corrupt system, and therefore allow the screenplay to favour Prabhat’s dogged sincerity, even if the rewards don’t come in the manner he intends.
Sure, that may not be the case in real life, but at least it lends Gram Chikitsalay Season 2 more warmth and turns Prabhat into a far more likeable lead than he was in the previous season, with Amol Parashar’s sincere performance helping the cause.
Akash Makhija Scores Again
However, while I liked his arc better this time, the stronger storyline belongs to Gobind.
Akash Makhija, who is earning praise for his negative act in another recent Prime Video offering, Raakh, cranks up the adorability scale with his performance as the unpretentious ward boy.
His endeavour to become ‘permanent’ in the PHC while not having the bribe money demanded by the corrupt and influential District Medical Officer (Dinesh Lal Yadav) has more enjoyable writing, and the manner in which it takes the character to a fulfilling place is quite wholesome to watch.
The episode where he gets a major life update on the same day his PHC is being inspected could well be the most pleasing portion of the season. It doesn’t boast extraordinary writing, but the show plays the familiar beats well enough to bring a smile to your face.
Anandeshwar Dwivedi is also very good as his mentor, and he is particularly hilarious in the scene where he goes to the DMO’s house for some ‘spy work’.
Akansha Ranjan Kapoor gets more screen time in the new season, and she slips into the role with ease.
However, Garima Vikrant Singh as the dutiful nurse Indhu gets far less screen presence compared to the previous season.
Vinay Pathak’s Underwritten Track
Chetak Kumar, who still serves as Prabhat’s nemesis, is bundled into a predictable track that makes him confront the collateral damage caused by his quackery. His turnaround in the final episode needed more fleshing out, even if we could see it coming from the very first.
Vinay Pathak is still incredible in the role, particularly in the finale where he excellently depicts his character’s inner turmoil without needing to say anything. Which is also the reason why the moment needed a better build-up to match up to that performance.
As for the patient-centric stories, the season handles them with better humour, even if it involves poop packed inside a mithai box, and with more dramatic flair, with a couple of them receiving satisfying closures.
A Persistent TVF Problem
Still, if you are expecting anything beyond the usual tropes, you might be disappointed because the show continues to rely on what the makers believe are stigmas prevalent only in rural areas, at least in the way they portray them with a whimsical touch.
Like a husband getting uncomfortable with his pregnant wife detailing her feminine problems to a male doctor. Or a family treating a woman suffering from epilepsy as an unmarriageable burden.
The track involving the ‘dayan‘ and her son also deserved more space to evolve of its own, instead of being pushed into the season merely to add some dramatic heft to the final episode.
Also, you still cannot ignore the fact that Gram Chikitsalay, like most TVF shows, has no qualms about showing problems at the micro level, but still romanticises them. That keeps them away from addressing issues at the macro level.
It may respect Prabhat for his honesty, but it also values Gargi’s approach of working around the system to get what her centre wants, while the actual perpetrators, the corrupt officials, are never questioned. In fact, the show often sees them as better people than they usually are.
It’s like TVF telling us the world isn’t fair, but what to do, just smell the poop and live with it, convincing yourself that what you are smelling is probably something rosy.
But hey, we also grudgingly need the smiles, so here we are!
